We sent a clear message just how important Slavonia is for this administration

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that in the period from October 2016 to the end of September 2021 contracts had been signed for projects worth HRK 18.58 billion (€2.5 billion) in five Slavonian counties and that of that amount, HRK 10.3 billion (€1.4 billion) had been paid out.

Opening the 12th meeting of the Council for Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem in the eastern town of Pleternica, Plenković said that compared to data presented at the previous Council session, there was an increase of HRK 2.05 billion in the amount for which contracts had been signed.

He recalled that at the last Council meeting, held in October 2020 in Našice, Annex 2 to the Development Agreement for Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem was signed, to include another 38 strategic development projects worth HRK 10.7 billion.

Plenković said that he believed the meetings held so far had sent a very clear message of how important Slavonia was to the government and its survival and future for the entire country.

Recalling the government's efforts in dealing with the different consequences of the coronavirus pandemic since the last Council meeting, he said that the government had taken care that that did not bring into question its policy priorities.

We did not allow social fracture, using job-keeping measures to protect 700,000 jobs in the private sector and helping 120,000 businesses. In the five Slavonian counties, HRK 1.2 billion was disbursed to protect jobs for 100,000 workers and 14,000 employers, Plenković said.

He noted that all strategic documents for the current decade had been made, including sector strategies and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and that the highest amount ever of grants had been secured.

We have more than €25 billion from the new EU financial perspective at our disposal and I believe that by encouraging even regional development and through the new integrated territorial programme we will have access to an additional HRK 14 billion, which will enable additional development, the PM said.

He said that these were serious signals to investors wishing to launch production and create jobs in the five Slavonian counties.

Minister: More than 27,000 projects in five counties

Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Nataša Tramišak said that more than HRK 10 billion had been paid out for projects agreed so far, and that since the last Council meeting, contracts had been signed in the five Slavonian counties for projects worth more than HRK 2 billion, with around HRK 740 million having been paid out so far.

Contracts for projects worth HRK 6.67 billion have been signed in Osijek-Baranja County, which is the highest project value, while in all five counties contracts have been signed for more than 27,000 projects, mostly in Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties, she said.

The Council for Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem was established in March 2017 as an advisory body for the coordination of the process of absorption of money from European structural and investment funds, EU instruments and programmes, the European Economic Area and national funds, under the Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem project, as part of which €2.5 billion has been secured from EU funds for projects in the five Slavonian counties.

Text: Hina

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